Arizona Wildcats

Arizona basketball picked to win Pac-12

The Pac-12 preseason media poll was released Thursday morning, and by the slimmest of margins, the Arizona Wildcats were picked to win the conference.

Arizona received 15 of a possible 36 first place votes, one fewer than UCLA, but the Wildcats finished the poll with 403 points, one more than the Bruins.

After UCLA, the top five of the conference is rounded out by California, Stanford and Washington.

The Wildcats return three starters from last year’s 23-12 squad, including Solomon Hill, who was a First Team All-Pac-12 selection a year ago when he averaged 12.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Arizona also has one of the top recruiting classes in the country featuring center Kaleb Tarczewski, power forward Grant Jerrett and power forward Brandon Ashley, who were all ranked in the top 20 recruits in the nation by ESPN.

Arizona won an exhibition game against NCAA Division II Humboldt State 108-67 Wednesday night. The Wildcats will open their season November 11 against Charleston Southern at McKale Center in Tucson.